Suzanne Forbes, an expat New Yorker in Berlin. Made possible by the generous support of her Patrons. https://www.patreon.com/SuzanneForbes. Former DC Penciller for Star Trek, former courtroom artist, painting portraits and teaching drawing.

Tag Archives: unterweg

This young dad got off the S-Bahn with his family before I could draw the face of his sleeping baby.

The whole drawing was hard because I was so enchanted by the little girl and how pretty her dress was that I didn’t look that carefully at the handsome dad, who anyway was wearing all white which is hard as hell to draw!

Plus, they were only on the train for two stops. So I had to kind of fake it. I was planning to use photo reference of babies, although you know I never use photos for anything but objects. Babies are so challenging, though, I was willing to get some help. I let it simmer for a while.

Then this weekend we were riding the S-Bahn again, I was working on some other drawings in that sketchbook, and I had a flash of recall. So I drew the baby’s little face in two seconds from memory. I think they came out okay!

Thank you, my Patreon Patrons, for making it possible for me to capture these Berlin moments and tell these stories. It is so precious.

I have some new unterwegs in progress from this month but they will have to wait til I ride the S-Bahn again and can get the architecture in!

I couldn’t draw on public transit for quite a while.

Plus, I have become quite cautious about using the bus, always making sure to be seated and holding a rail or handle before the bus starts moving.

Which means I have to hustle; part of the efficiency and speed of the bus system here is that the bus driver does not wait for you to be settled and secure. The drivers just take off after a certain number of seconds, even if there are older folks looking for seats. They do pause for wheelchair users and baby carriages to get arranged and strapped in the wheeled area, at least.

But everybody else is on their own, and passengers are alert to help seniors and mobility aid users find a seat and be safe. So someone like me, who looks perfectly healthy, is not accorded any concern whatsoever, and my scramble to be seated in the regular seating may look a bit unseemly or neurotic.

I don’t care, because my hand feels terribly vulnerable, and it’s my job to protect my livelihood and my ability to contribute to society. I didn’t take transit much at all while I had my cast on; it’s only the last week or so I’ve been out and about.

This Tuesday was the first time I brought my drawing kit with me since the accident. It was fantastic to sit and draw from life again, I felt like a horse let out of a stall, running around the paddock like a fuckin maniac. Drawing isn’t “fun” or pleasure for me – it’s the exercise of the strongest muscles, the best skills I have, and using those skills is like working out.

It feels fantastic to use these powerful muscles, and at the same time it feels like work. Doing my job. Telling people’s stories.

I was put here to do this work, I believe, and doing it again makes me feel useful and strong. On Thursday, headed to the Drummess Jam, I was so caught up in working on the top drawing I didn’t realize I’d taken the wrong train til I had passed several unfamiliar stops!

Thank you, my Patreon Patrons, for making it possible for me to do this work and tell these everyday human stories. I am so grateful to be back to work.

These two little dudes, with their matching undercuts, were very excited about a game.

It was the hour of the day when the subways are full of kids taking the train home from school, as I used to do myself.

Now pay attention!

It was not at all clear that the two younger women knew the senior lady who was informing them of something very important. But they were listening seriously nonetheless.

Crowded bus standup drawing.

I made this in a seriously crowded bus, surrounded by all different people of Berlin, filled with gratitude for this place. As you can see the guy right next to me had his headphones on and paid me no attention at all.

As I have been very fatigued this month, I haven’t gotten out and about much.

So two of these unterwegs are from other months, drawings that started as quick sketches and were left unfinished. Often I’ll have a sketchbook that has some orphans in it, left behind when I ran out of empty pages.

This month I’m gathering up the orphans and finishing them!

Actually, pretty much every sketchbook has a sketch or two I forgot about or didn’t finish because I ran out of marker, lost my pastel, or needed some reference for a bicycle.

Sometimes a drawing is put on hold til I ride that particular model of train again!

I might need to check the layout of the car, see where the doors or handrails are. Orphans are generally dated the day I finish and sign them, which is why the woman with the tree in summer clothes is dated February 18.

Sometimes people in Europe just look really European.

These two just slayed me. What you can’t see is that her amazing vintage 80s coat was a rich deep marigold yellow and her chunky knit scarf was a darker mustard. She was coolly wearing the hell out of her whole look.

Phone frowner.

People often look so displeased when they are looking at their phones. Since I don’t have a phone, I’m free to look around and observe this!

Butt bump!

The interesting thing about this kinda heavily-worn older guy and the techno-looking younger guy is that I don’t know that they knew each other.

The older guy was playing and they just started dancing together. This isn’t the prettiest drawing, it’s kinda clunky, but I found it half-finished in a sketchbook this weekend and decided to finish it cause I like the women in the background.

And I really like the fact that I drew a guy doing an actual double take!

I also found this drawing made very quickly from the upper deck of the M29 bus and finished it roughly.

It’s a good example of how elements can be added to a documentary drawing responsibly. You couldn’t see the typical European notice column with its posters in the same shot as the guy, but it wasn’t far away, and adding it helps to sell the setting of the sketch really quickly.

Here’s some of the drawings I’ve made while travelling about Berlin this month.

In Berlin, where dogs are allowed on the subway at all times, dogs understand about missing or catching the train. They actually hustle to get to the doors before they close. Which I find just amazing.

There are maps on the ceiling of the subway cars, which is sensible!

I am doing so much experimenting with tone, pattern and value areas in these unterwegs. They are my safe space to expand my style and way of documenting things.

This drawing was made from a quick mental snapshot.

I glimpsed this woman wearing the HELL out of a jersey wrap dress, with great hair style, as she hustled for the M10 in Friedrichshain. I was going to the U1, and I got on the train and then realized I had no pencil or even a ballpoint for the sketch I usually do before putting down ink. However I did have a white conte crayon stick and I used that to quickly rough in the gesture and forms. You can see the faint traces of white lines if you look carefully. I could have pimped it up later with background and tone and white highlights, but I just liked the simple lines so much.

Our friend Nathan, who was hub’s acupuncture doctor in the Bay, was in Berlin for re:publica, working his awesome new Makerspace networking startup, MakerNet.

He took care of Daria’s headache problem! One of my old lovers who lives in Berlin came and bought a piece. Our friends Ben and Ursula came and took the hubbin over to Santa Cantina, and returned with delicious Mexican food for me to nom.

I have been making so many drawings it’s hard to keep up.

These two sweet daddies were encountered on different day trips to meet Daria someplace. I hope I conveyed their amazing love and tenderness. The one above was letting his daughter go boldly ahead, not constraining her. I had to redraw a lot very quickly to convey that his arm was extended, just barely keeping a delicate hold on her hood, not pulling her back towards himself.

This dad had kinda greasy hipster hair but his child was immaculate, even though it was eating some kind of chocolate-covered biscuit.

I have never seen a child eat chocolate so neatly, and I have never seen a dad so thrilled to be riding the subway with his baby.

And here is an unterweg drawing I like just because it’s so loose and fast!